General elections were held in Japan on 20 February 1928,Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p281 the first after the passing of the Universal Manhood Suffrage Law in 1925 which introduced universal male suffrage for men 25 years and over. The ruling Rikken Seiyūkai led by Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi won one more seat than the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party led by Hamaguchi Osachi, although the Constitutional Democratic Party had received slightly more votes. The hung parliament led to the Tanaka government continuing in office.
Electoral system Following electoral reforms in 1925, the 466 members of the House of Representatives were elected from multi-member constituencies with between three and five seats. Voting had previously been restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 3 yen a year in direct taxation, but the reforms had also abolished the taxation requirement.Mackie & Rose, p276 As a result, the electorate increased from 3.3 million in the 1924 elections to 12.4 million.
Results
By prefecture PrefectureTotalseatsSeats wonRSRMJDSDPKL-FPJL-FPOthersInd. Aichi175102Akita743Aomori642Chiba11641Ehime972Fukui5221Fukuoka1896111Fukushima1165Gifu9531Gunma945Hiroshima1376Hokkaido201091Hyōgo1987112Ibaraki1165Ishikawa633Iwate761Kagawa633Kagoshima12291Kanagawa1156Kōchi624Kumamoto1055Kyoto114412Mie9432Miyagi8251Miyazaki514Nagano13661Nagasaki936Nara523Niigata156711Ōita743Okayama10721Okinawa532Osaka2151312Saga633Saitama11542Shiga532Shimane6141Shizuoka1385Tochigi945Tokushima633Tokyo3114161Tottori422Toyama624Wakayama6231Yamagata844Yamaguchi972Yamanashi5311Total46621721644321118
Aftermath The Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by the Japanese army in June 1928. Tanaka denounced the army for this, but lost support and was forced to resign in July 1929. Opposition leader Hamaguchi became Prime Minister and formed a new government.
References